Question answered
Spray foam installer gone out of business: what now?
The short answer
If your spray foam installer has gone out of business, start by gathering the contract, invoice, any guarantee and the photographs from the day. Then find out who actually issued the guarantee, because it may sit with a third party. Your consumer rights do not vanish, but they are hard to enforce against a closed firm, so get the roof surveyed and the foam recorded now.
When the company that sprayed your roof has closed, the paperwork can feel worthless. It is not. There are records to gather, rights to read and a roof that still needs looking at.
Gather everything the installer left behind
Before you chase anyone, build a folder. You are looking for the quote, the signed contract, the invoice, proof of payment, any data sheet for the foam and the guarantee certificate if one was issued. Emails and text messages count too, because they show what you were promised about the roof, the loft and any condensation checks.
Next, look at what is physically there. Photograph the foam from inside the loft in good light, in wide shots and close detail, with a ruler beside the thicker patches. Note any staining on the timbers, damp smells, and whether the foam sits tight against the tiles or slates above. Date every picture. If you are unsure which type you have, our page on how to identify spray foam explains the signs.
This folder is the foundation for everything that follows, whether that is a claim, a conversation with a lender or a sale. Keep a copy somewhere other than the house.
Find out who really stands behind the guarantee
A guarantee is worth what its issuer is worth. Read the certificate closely. Some are promises from the installing company alone, and when that company stops trading the promise often stops with it. Others name a separate scheme, a manufacturer or an insurer, and then the obligation may continue even though the installer has closed.
Look for a named issuer, a policy or reference number, a claims address and a list of exclusions. Then write to the issuer, not the installer, and ask in plain terms whether the cover is still in force, whether it can be called on now the installer has stopped trading and what evidence they need. Keep their reply.
Be careful with one assumption. A manufacturer's warranty on the foam is a different thing from a guarantee on the installation. The first may say the product is sound; it rarely says the roof underneath was suitable for it. Our guide to the spray foam guarantee covers what these documents usually do and do not promise.
What your consumer rights still say
The Consumer Rights Act 2015 expects the work to be done with reasonable care and skill, and its remedies include having it done again. Those are the rules on paper. In practice a repeat visit from a company that no longer exists is not on offer, so the question becomes whether anyone else is answerable: a successor business, an insurer, a finance company if you borrowed to pay, or a card provider if you paid that way.
A 2024 statute, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (section 308, in force from 6 April 2026), says a trader explaining how a complaint ended must also point the consumer to any dispute resolution arrangement open to them. That helps while a firm is still answering letters. It does little for one that has been wound up.
Treat this as background rather than legal advice. If a significant sum is involved, take independent advice before deciding whom to pursue. Whatever you decide, the folder from the first section is what that adviser will ask to see.
The roof still needs checking
A closed installer should not mean an unexamined roof. The RICS consumer guide from March 2023 says badly installed insulation can bring damp and uncontrolled condensation, and that a qualified professional should run the thermal and condensation calculations. If nobody did that before the foam went on, nobody has done it since.
The Energy Saving Trust also advises against foaming the underside of a roof that leaks without first finding out why it leaks. If yours was already letting water in when the work was done, the fault may be hidden behind the foam, with timbers and underlay taking the wetting. Our page on spray foam roof damage describes what that can look like.
Our job begins with the cause: a loft inspection, a look at the roof outside and photographs of the roof itself, then one total price in writing. Where a leak is active the roof is made safe first, and then comes the question of whether the foam stays or goes.
Lenders and buyers will ask about the foam
A November 2024 report found some lenders refusing homes with spray foam while others judged each one separately. RICS adds that valuers may weigh foam when forming a view. A vanished installer is not only a repair question. That can turn into a sale or remortgage question.
Here your folder earns its place. A buyer's surveyor or a lender will want to know what was installed, when, by whom and what happened afterwards. A defunct installer with no guarantee leaves a gap in that story, and an independent survey with dated photographs helps to fill it. Our page on what evidence lenders want sets out the record usually asked for.
If the foam is later removed, the roof beneath needs checking before anyone insulates again, and the underlay in particular may need attention. We cover that on the page about a new membrane after spray foam. More background sits on our spray foam insulation removal hub.
Closed installers: two further questions
Can another installer take over the old company's guarantee?
Only if the guarantee itself allows it, and that is for whoever issued it to decide. Ask the issuer in writing whether cover continues and whether another firm's inspection satisfies them. A new contractor can survey the foam and repair the roof, but cannot rewrite terms set by someone else.
Is it safe to leave the foam in place while I sort out the paperwork?
Often for a while, provided the roof is not leaking and the timbers are dry. RICS cautions that removal may harm the existing structure, so there is no need to rush. A survey shows whether the roof is sound, and it should come before any choice to strip or keep the foam.
Tell us about your roof
Describe what is happening and we will call you back to arrange a visit.
- Photographs of what we find
- A written quote with one total price
- Or call 01903 299063
10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing.